After years of expansion, Kentucky’s Medicaid population has been steadily declining as more people get jobs that pay them too much to be eligible for government-funded health care.
Kentucky’s Medicaid enrollment is down by more than 96,000 from January to September, according to the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. A decline is also happening in other assistance programs, including the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.
The decline comes as the Trump administration has approved new rules — tentatively set to begin April 1 — for some of Kentucky’s Medicaid population that would require them to get a job, go to school or volunteer at least 80 hours per month to keep their coverage.